Indianapolis police officer cleared in death of black man sues NFL for defamation

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An Indianapolis police officer has filed a lawsuit against the NFL on Monday. He claims that the professional sports league defamed him when it highlighted examples of police brutality and racism in the system, as The Blaze reports.

How did it all happen?

During the 2020 NFL season several players wore helmet decals “to honor victims of systemic racism, victims of police misconduct, and social justice heroes.” This initiative was part of the “Inspire Change: Say Their Stories” campaign.

One of the people mentioned in the campaign, was Dreasjon Reed, a 21-year-old black man who lost his life after a police encounter in Indianapolis “following a high-speed vehicle pursuit and a foot chase” in May 2020, CNN reported.

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De'Joure Mercer, the Indianapolis Metro Police Department officer who killed the black man, was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

“This special grand jury returned a 'No Bill.' This term means there is insufficient evidence to indict or accuse Officer De'Joure Mercer,” Special prosecutor Rosemary Khoury in December 2020.

What happened next?

Mercer filed a complaint in federal court against NFL. He is Accusing the professional sports league of libel, based on four media creations that allegedly said Mercer was guilty of “police misconduct.”

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“The truth of the matter is that Mercer committed no misconduct and was publicly cleared of all alleged wrongdoing. Despite a highly publicized investigation and other information that clearly exculpated Mercer of all wrongdoing, all of which was publicly available and was in fact possessed by and known to one of the National Football League's teams, the Indianapolis Colts, the NFLE published several online statements accusing Mercer of police misconduct. As detailed below, the NFLE published its false statements of fact negligently and with a reckless disregard of the truth; the NFLE's statements are defamatory per se and have caused Mercer to suffer severe emotional and reputational injury in his personal and professional capacities.”

“The campaign gives rise to the inference, implication, and imputation that Mercer committed occupational misconduct in his encounter with Reed, similar to George Floyd. This inference, implication, and imputation is false because Mercer committed no such acts," Mercer's lawyers state in the complaint.

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“He is standing up for his friends and colleagues and sending a message that before you accuse a decorated police officer of misconduct in a national campaign, you had better get your facts straight,” an attorney for Mercer, Guy A. Relford, stated for WXIN-TV.

“De'Joure Mercer is a hero. He tracked down a very dangerous criminal wanted by the police, who was a threat to the citizens of Indianapolis.

He put his life on the line and was nearly killed in that effort. He was completely exonerated after an exhaustive investigation into the death of Mr. Reed. For NFL Enterprises then to suggest he was involved in police or racist misconduct is totally false, defamatory and unacceptable. What happened here has nothing to do with racism.”

The Indianapolis police officer is asking for “substantial compensatory damages.”

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